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Nick Hornby on the Reading Life

Nick Hornby talks about his popular column in the Believer magazine, which chronicles the books he’s read, bought, skimmed, and meant to read. His new book of essays, More Baths Less Talking, is about his encounters with the reading life.

I love Nick Hornby! I've read all his books and have the album that he made with Ben Folds. But hearing him talk about his sons playing video games and never reading books was really, really disappointing.

I was an avid reader too, over 50 years ago, but it's been mostly video games for me too over the last dozen years or so. I only occasionally read a book- albeit never a work of fiction - between video games and movies, when I get somewhat bored with the latter. Besides the Bible, the only work of fiction I ever found worthy of reading was "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley back in the eight grade. Otherwise it's been almost all histories, biographies and technical books mostly in the computer field.

Mr. Hornby's first collection of reviews, The Polysyllabic Spree, sent me reading in a dozen different directions, which is something Leonard's show does as well. But like Nick, I can't stay on all those roads at once, or even switch roads at will. One book or author - or translator - will whet my appetite for something more of the same, or suggest something new. The "books I bought and books I read" detail is telling and also useful. Sometimes I go for the comment on the unread book and go for it with vigor.

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